Home / News Type Content Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read | Comment
220,000 Stranded by Heavy Snow in Xinjiang
Adjust font size:

Heavy snows of up to 1 meter have stranded 220,000 people in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, cutting off traffic and communications.

 

Winds from Siberia also caused temperatures to drop sharply to minus 43 Celsius in some areas.

 

Altogether lives of more than 620,000 people have been affected and 9,234 head of livestock were killed, Xinjiang Daily reported.

 

About 100,000 people have also been forced to leave their homes because of the snow.

 A week-long blizzard that started December 29 also toppled houses, especially in the northern parts of the region, said Qu Songlin, an official with the region's civil affair bureau.

 

About 6,000 people suffered from various diseases, and 300,000 head of livestock face starvation, he said. There have been no reports on human casualties. Disaster relief efforts are under way.

 

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has also sent officials to the region to supervise relief efforts, a ministry official surnamed Zhang said on Friday.

 

The top priority is to resume traffic and transportation, said Wang Zhenyao, another disaster relief official with the ministry. Providing adequate clothing and enough food for those affected is also high on the agenda.

 

Among the hardest hit communities are Fuyun, Qinghe, Altay, Habahe and Buerjin in northern Xinjiang, Wang said.

 

The local government in Altay has allocated 1.7 million yuan (US$210,000) in disaster relief, Xinjiang Daily reported.

 

He Lifu, a forecaster with the Central Meteorological Office, said no heavy snow is forecast for the region in the coming week.

 

Winter is usually a harsh season for Xinjiang's 19.6 million people.

 

Meteorologists had predicted that China would experience its coldest winter since 1986, reports said.

 

 

 

 

 

(China Daily January 7, 2006)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
Comment
Pet Name
Anonymous
China Archives
Related >>
- NGOs Look to Public for Help in Storm Relief
- Snowstorm Claims Six Lives in Mongolia
- Couch Grass Stock for Winter in Tibet
- Blizzard Maroons Thousands at Airports
- Blizzard Threatens Coastal Cities
- People in Blizzard-hit Region Properly Resettled
Most Viewed >>
- World's longest sea-spanning bridge to open
- Yao out for season with stress fracture in left foot
- 141 seriously polluting products blacklisted
- China starts excavation for world's first 3G nuclear plant
- Irresponsible remarks on Hu Jia case opposed 
- 'The China Riddle'
- China, US agree to step up constructive,cooperative relations
- FIT World Congress: translators on track
- Christianity popular in Tang Dynasty
- Factory fire kills 15, injures 3 in Shenzhen

Product Directory
China Search
Country Search
Hot Buys